LAWRENCE — University of Kansas Libraries holds a large amount of items both by and about world-renowned science fiction author Ray Bradbury, who died June 6 at the age of 91. Library staff and faculty members are available to speak with media working on feature retrospective stories about Bradbury’s work and legacy.

Items in the collection include:
• At least three letters from Bradbury. One is a letter from a young Bradbury to Theodore Sturgeon. Bradbury and Sturgeon were fans of each other’s work, and the Spencer Research Library at KU is home to the world’s largest collection of Sturgeon’s books, manuscripts and correspondence. Others are included in the Donald A. Wollheim and P. Schuyler Miller collections. Wollheim and Miller were science fiction writers, publishers and critics, respectively.
• Nearly 100 books by Bradbury and pulp magazines featuring Bradbury’s stories. KU’s collection is especially strong in pulp magazines from the early part of Bradbury’s career, many of which cannot be found in most libraries.
• Audio interviews with Bradbury conducted by John Tibbetts, associate professor of film and media studies at KU, which will be made available online for the first time this week.

Faculty members available to speak about Bradbury’s work, his legacy and the items at KU Libraries:

• John C. Tibbetts, associate professor of film and media studies. Tibbetts conducted hours of audio interviews with Bradbury, many of which are being digitized for preservation in KU Scholar Works, a digital archive of library materials.
• Elspeth Healey, special collections librarian at Spencer Research Library. Healey can speak about the specific items in KU’s collection, their importance to the library and university and other KU Libraries items.
• James Gunn, founder of the KU Center for the Study of Science Fiction and professor emeritus of English at KU. A science fiction writer since 1948, Gunn has won numerous awards for his work in science fiction and was a longtime colleague and contemporary of Bradbury.

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